This wasn't The Hunger Games.Yes, we get it: all that is dystopian is hot right now. However, not every book needs to be marketed to me as "on par" or "better than" Collins' best-selling trilogy. And, really, it's putting the author on a high pedestal--one that few writers could live up to, let alone a twenty-two-year-old girl who's just put out her first novel.Although, I have to admit Veronica Roth did much better than most.Tris lives in a world built around attaining and maintaining peace, which has led to the segregation of society into factions. Those who believe cowardice caused war and hatred formed Dauntless, those who thought it was ignorance have become the Erudite, etc. Tris was born to a family of Abnegation--those who value selflessness above all else.Except Tris isn't so sure she does. She's always felt out-of-step in her home, among her family. So it's no surprise that, at sixteen, she chooses to leave her faction and join the breathtaking Dauntless crowd. But the Dauntless don't accept all who wish to join; you have to prove you deserve a spot among them, you have to fight for the privilege of staying. If you don't survive initiation, you become one of the outcasted Factionless.(While this is a lovely introduction to the world, Roth is going need to spend some more time on this in the following books. How did society switch from its current integration mindset to that of segregation? How did they see that as the more peaceful option?And, while not as important, is the entirety of America like this? Or just Chicago? Do they live in a bubble?)Between performing crazy stunts to prove how daring she can be and fighting every other initiate in scenes that are reminiscent of Fight Club,Tris is struggling to uncover the secrets of her new faction, simultaneously keeping a secret of her own, and is working out her feelings for her initiation group leader, Four.Oh, my God. Four. I'm not one to usually swoon over the love interest, no matter how supposedly H4wT, but I do squeal a little bit when a guy manages to be attractive while having flaws.Unfortunately, while he's been given these faults, Tris has yet to realize or address this in their relationship, and it tends to grate on the nerves a bit. She seems to view him as some sort of demi-God, incapable of wrong-doing. She falls hard and she follows him blindly, and as a girl who aspires to stick to non-abusive relationships, I spent a lot of time wishing one of the blows to the head during the sparring would knock some sense into her. Or that she had a sassy gay friend.Plot . . . was a problem. Plot was where Roth lost marks. I enjoyed the book, and I'll no doubt continue to follow the series and Roth's work, but ten seconds after finishing, you realize that pretty much nothing happened until the final seventy-five pages.Before then, it was nothing but fight scene after fight scene and contemplation on who Tris can truly count among her friends (No one). Then the action that does happen . . . disappointing. Boring. There were ridiculous clues dropped throughout the book which the reader really had no way of piecing together without prior knowledge of the world--knowledge which we weren't given--so the surprise! action ending falls flat and leaves the reader somewhat frustrated.So why three stars? Because, inexplicable as it is, Roth's writing made me feel like this book was going somewhere, like I was enjoying myself. I'm also cautiously optimistic about the sequel. While she didn't explain or do much with this first novel, she did put down the groundwork to expand in some great directions, and I can't deny that I'm curious to see where she goes.Here's hoping I don't get burned.
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